Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2016

December 11, 2016

Despite city and state efforts to improve the affordability of housing in the greater Boston area, the supply of such housing has not kept up with demand and housing is less affordable than ever, a report from the Boston Foundation, the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University, and the Warren Group finds. The report,The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2016: The Trouble With Growth: How Unbalanced Economic Expansion Affects Housing (102 pages, PDF), found that permitting for affordable housing is down, particularly in the inner core communities of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and for multi-family units — the type of housing most urgently needed. The report also highlights an increase in housing insecurity and homelessness among families with children — waiting lists for family housing vouchers are growing, families are spending longer periods of time in shelters, and those with vouchers remain stuck in the same communities, which limits their access to employment networks and educational opportunities that could lead to improved economic mobility.